Stephanie Granot

Writer

Stephanie Granot

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In a chiffon-ly veiled response to the current political climate in the United States, designers at last month's New York Fashion Week showed Fall/Winter collections subtly but unmistakably designed to evoke feelings of safety and protection.

What’s written on the chalkboards of “My Piece of Happiness” are as diverse as the people holding them, but each holds a clue as to what makes us all tick. Call it a sense of peace, fulfillment, satisfaction, or meaning, it’s a return to our earliest ideals, the things we valued in childhood and might have lost along the way.

Perhaps because the Autumn/ Winter shows come at a dreary time of year, or maybe it's the pre-Fashion Week grumbling that in an age of Instagram and live streaming, fashion shows - with their ensuing costs - are becoming (dare we say it) passé. In any case, During its Autumn Winter 2016 show, New York Fashion Week seems to have tipped it's ever-delicate balance from fashion to entertainment.

An exhibition featuring the work of Israeli sculptor and artist Orna Ben-Ami opened at UN Headquarters on Tuesday night. The exhibition, which will be on display at the Delegates Entrance until March 10, is titled “Entire Life in a Package”. It’s intended to draw attention to the refugee crisis and features works of welded iron superimposed over Reuter’s photographs of refugees.

The first time he mentioned that his sister-in-law writes a blog on Terezin it didn't register with me. "That's nice," I replied absently. He shrugged tattooed shoulders and turned a power saw on. April sunlight glinted off a big silver cross around his neck as he got back to building a deck in our yard.
It's October and the tattooed builder with the silver cross, is back, fixing a leaky kitchen ceiling while I put away groceries. He tries again loudly from the top of the ladder. “My sister-in-law writes a blog about Terezin.” I look up. With his black skull t-shirt and motorcycle jacket, he looks more like a Hell’s Angels gang member than the family member of a Holocaust Chronicler. I'm pretty sure I'm hearing things. I try to form an appropriate response, but the only thing that comes out of my mouth is “What?”
"I'll send it to you" he says and disappears into the ceiling.

At Thursday’s United Nations Security Council meeting, United States Ambassador Nikki Haley honored her pledge to shift the focus of the Middle East conflict away from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Haley, who is rotating as UNSC president for the month of April, didn’t mince words when she steered the Council away from Israel and onto Iran’s support of terrorism.

“It burned for almost 24 hours,” explains Aviram Shaul. He’s referring to the armored personnel carrier that carried nine IDF Golani Brigade soldiers into the heart of the Gaza’s Shujaiyeh neighborhood on July 20, 2014, during the first days of Operation Protective Edge. Among them was his younger brother Oron.

About

Stephanie Granot

Stephanie is a Freelance Journalist and UN Correspondent with a focus on events in the Middle East, and a Magazine Features Writer on a variety of topics.
She's a regular contributor to The Jerusalem Post and The Jewish Press. Stephanie is mom to Daniel, Adam, Dean and Anna and divides her time between New York and Tel Aviv.